Carton



May 2, 1939. J. w. McNEIL CARTON Filed Jan. 8, 1937 Patented May 2, 1939 v UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE CARTON James William McNeil, Tampa, Fla. Application JanuaryflS, 1937 Serial No. 119,538

'1 Claims.

This invention relates to containers made of pasteboard or-similar material and folded into a closed receptacle from a unitary blank.

An object of the invention is to produce a rigid carton approaching the cylindrical form, in which the die-formed blanks maybe shipped substantially flat and. may readily be folded into final form by a machine at the ,place where the carton is filled.

A further object of the invention is to provide an air space at the top and bottom of a container to-hold the material at a little distance from the shelf on which the container may be placed, and thus to retard the absorption of moisture. Y a

A still further object of the invention is to provide a'carton in which each edge is covered by a continuous folded-over portion of the material to prevent'leakage. Other objects, such as low cost,.ease of manufacture, simplicity, and emciency, will be' evident in connection with the description of a preferred form of the invention selected for purpose of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l is a plan view of the outer surface of a blank as punched, scored, and embossed ready for shipmerityFig. 2 is a top plan view of the carton with the innermost closure flap pressed into the end of the carton and ready to receive the intermediate closure flaps; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the upper portion of the carton with the intermediate flaps folded intoposition upon theinnermost flap andready to receive the outermost closure flap; and Fig. 4is a' central cross-section through one end of 'a carton longitudinallyyof the'innermost and outermost closure flaps. I

The blank shown in Fig. ljwill preferably be made of cardboard of suitable thickness, on which may be printed a label of any design, none being indicated in the drawing since it forms no part o the invention. 1

Scored lines I, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, I, and 8 are provided to enable the blank to be folded to produce eight side panels, 9, I0, |I I2, |3, l4, l5, and I6, with an end portion lI serving as a pasting flap to engage with and to be secured to the inside of the panel 9 when the carton has been shaped into the octagonal form.

Longitudinal scored lines l8 and i9 provide for the inward folding of end flaps 23, 2?, 22, 23, 24, 2 5, 26, and 21. The flap 2!] which forms the outermost end closure is of octagonal shape and is approximately of the size of a transverse section of the carton. The flap 2|, which forms the innermost end closure, is somewhat larger than the flap 20, and it is scored along the lines 28, 29, 30, 3|, 32, and 33 to permit outward bending of the margins of the closure 2|. It .is also scored along the line 34 to permit inward bending of the flap 35 on themargin of the closure 2| remote from its hinge line so that this flap 35 will enter the space formed between the panel? and an inwardly bent end portion 36 on the pasting strip H, as best shown in Fig. ,4. The end of the portion 36 acts as a positive stop to limit the movement of the flap 2| into the carton. Notches 31 are cut in each of the four lateral corners of the closure flap 2| to' permit easy inward movement of the flap into the carton; the amount of material removedbeingjust enough to causethe notches to become tightly closed when the six side margins adjacent to the lines 28, 29, 30, 3|, 32, and 33 wedge into close contact with the inner side faces of the panels as shown in Fig. 2, just inside of the folding lines of the flaps 22, 23 24, 25, 26, and 21. Whenthe flap 2| is the carton and the notches 31 bepressed into come tightly. closed with margins of the flap 2] bent outward toward the intermediate flaps 22,

23, 2A, 25, 26, and 21, and toward the outermost flap 20, the central portion of the elastic material placed under tension by contact of its margins with the inner surfaces of the side walls will not lie in a plane but will be arched inwardly toward the interior of .the carton. Pressure of the contents ,of the carton on this inwardly arched flap will act to press the margins more closelyinto contact withythe sidewalls. The elasticity of the material of which the cartonis made will cause the margins of the flap to be held under tension in close contact with the folded-over intermediate flaps to prevent sifting out of fine material held within the carton. Each intermediate flap provides a continuous fold COV ering the joint where the adjacent margin of the flap 2| engages the side panel at the corner edge where the intermediate flaplfolds inward.

The flap 22 is of a length to reach substan tially the full width of the carton and it is shown as notched at its free end at 38 to receive the triangular flap 26. One sideof each of the flaps 23, 24, 25, and 21 lies in contact with the adjacent edge of the flap 22 to prevent distortion of the end of the carton, and they are held in this position by the outermost flap 20, which is pasted upon the outer surface of each of the flaps 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 21, as well as upon the hinged edge and the free edge of the flap 2|, I

This triple layer of pasteboard forms a very rigid closure for the end of the carton and every external edge is closed by a folded-over continuous sheet of material which leaves no crack for the escape of finely divided material from the container.

The innermost flap 2| may have its central portiori embossed as at 39 forming an inwardly arched support over the air space left between the embossed portion and the central portion of the flaps 22 and 20. Substances such as salt, likely to absorb moisture, will thus be held away from direct contact with the sheet of pasteboard constituting the flap 20 which rests directly upon a shelf or other support for the carton.

Any one or all of the side panels of the carton may be embossed as indicated in panel 9 in Fig. 1 to provide greater rigidity as well as to enhance the appearance.

The'side panel I6 is shown as having a scored line 40 to permit easy breaking or cutting of the panel taform an outlet for dispensing the contents of the carton, this opening preferably being closeto one end of the panel. It is, of course, evident that other forms of dispensing openings may be used if desired, the form herein suggested beinga simple way of avoiding the many disadvantages inherent in cartons in which the dispensing opening is made in an' end closure.

While the carton is illustrated as having eight side." it will be understood that the shape may be made to approximate the cylindrical form still more closely by increasing the number of sides. It is not desirable to have the intermediate end flaps overlap each other, and thus, in practice, the number of sides will be limited by the size of the intermediate flaps as well as by the capacity of the machines to handle a plurality of relatively small triangular projections. Regardlessof the number of sides, however, the innermost end closure will preferably be attached to the side panel which lies opposite the panel to which the outermost end closure is hinged.

The invention evidently is not limited to the specific size, form, proportions, or arrangements of parts shown for illustrative purposes in the present drawing but may evidently be applied by those skilled in the art in many other embodiments within the scope of what is claimed.

I claim:

1. An integral blank of foldable material for forming an octagonal carton comprising a body portion having eight panels for forming the sides of the carton, an octagonal fiap extending from one end of one of said panels and forming an outer end closure for the carton a substantially octagonal flap of a size slightly greater than the cross-section of the carton secured to one end of another of said panels and forming an inner end closure for'said carton, said flap having a portion of the material at lateral corners removed to permit outward bending of the margins of the flap in close contact with the'inner faces of the panels, and. a plurality of flaps secured to each of the remaining side panels and adapted to fold over each of the free margins of the innernz-ist closure flap except the margin adjacent to the outermost closure flap, whereby to provide a continuous closure for each edge of the end of the carton.

2. A construction as in claim 1 wherein an intermediate flap is of a length to extend across the carton as a transverse brace member, with the sides of adjacent flaps lying incontact with the sides of the brace member.

3. In an octagonal carton, a body portion comprising a series of eight side panels and a pasting flap, said pasting flap being securedto the inside surface of the first panel of the series and having a portion of the flap at one end bent inwardly out of contact with the panel towhich the flap is secured, an inner end closure comprising a substantially octagonal flap of a size slightly larger than the inner dimensions of the' carton and attached to one of the side panels of the carton, the said flap having a portion of the ma-,

terial at lateral corners removed to permit outward bending of the margins of said flap to lie .in close contact with the inner faces of the side panels adjacent to the ends thereof and having an inwardly bent flap opposite to its point of attachment to the side panel and engaged between the first panel of the series and the inwardly bent portion of the pasting flap, smaller flaps secured toeach of six other side panels and bent over the margins of the inner end flap, and an outer end flap secured to one end of a side panel and overlying the smaller flaps and the inner flap and adhesively secured thereto.

4. In a structure as in claim 3, one of the smaller flaps being of a length to extend across the carton as a brace member and being engaged by the other five smaller -flaps -to prevent lateral movement of said brace member.

5. A'structure as in claim 3, the central portion of the innermost flap being embossed inwardly to coop rate with the bent margins to provide an airspace within the end of the carton between the innermost and the outermost closure flaps.

6. In a polygonal carton, a body portion forming a plurality of sidepanels, a polygonal flap attached to a side panel and forming an inner end closure. said flap being of a size somewhat larger than the cross-section of the carton and having notches cut in lateral corners to permit bending of the material of the flap as the closure is forced into the end of the carton and to cause the central portion of the flap to assume an inwardly arched position to hold the margins under tension in contact with the inner surface of the side panels, intermediate closure flaps .formed I upon the ends of the side panels of the carton and bent over the margins of the inner flap, and an outer closure flap formed upon the end of a side panel and adhesively secured upon the outer surfaces of the intermediate closure flaps.

7. A construction as .in claim 6 in which the innermost closure flap is inwardly embossed to form an air space within the end of the carton between the innermost and outermost flaps.

JAMES WILLIAM McNEIL. 

